Important Quotations Explained

For a moment, or moments, it was as it had been in the beginning, before fear, before evil, before death, at the time of the creation, when the earth was new and living things flourished therein, where the earth was fair and all living things dwelt together as kindred. For a moment, or moments, beasts and children were friends, there in the sweetness and silence of the night, there in the calm and lovely fields of the Lord.

This moving quote from the end of Chapter 16 speaks to the similarities between the buffaloes and the Bedwetters. He also uses this communion between man and beast to draw similarities between the two. Swarthout believes in the power of the buffaloes to bring peace and harmony to those who treat them with kindness. Using scent, which animals instinctually employ to determine the absence or presence of danger, the boys become at ease with the animals and experience a certain entirely novel tenderness and peace, which they have never before experienced with other human beings. Swarthout believes in the power of nature in creating this timeless and innocent connection.